The means of correct training: embodied regulation in training for body work among mothers

This article explores how a nationwide reform initiative, calling for a rehabilitative, activating and 'training' approach to elderly people in Danish homecare services, may transform gendered and embodied conceptions of 'the professional care worker'. Care work for the elderly is a low-paid and low-status occupation, affected by the stigma connected with elderly bodies. Drawing on an ethnographic case study of a homecare unit, this article shows how the adoption of a new distanced, goal-oriented approach to elderly bodies attempts to transform professional identities, and how care work is constructed as reflexive and change oriented, in contrast to emotional and relational approaches. This transformation potentially leads to a more advantageous position for care workers in gendered professional hierarchies. Simultaneously this process seems to render care workers' own bodies more visible, problematizing what are perceived as uncontrolled and unhealthy care worker bodies. The article thus argues that rehabilitative eldercare leads to an intertwining of two forms of bodywork, where work on the care worker's own body and the elderly body mutually constitute each other in a novel body-body articulation.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Carers to Trainers: Professional Identity and Body Work in Rehabilitative Eldercare

Hansen¹,

Kamp²

2016

“…Wainwright et al . 's (, p. 221) research on body training among mothers performing body work in beauty, health and social care sectors describes training spaces ‘as transitional and liminal – conceptual and physical spaces of “in‐betweenness” – in which body work is taught and learnt'. In the context of call centre work, call agents occupy a transitional and liminal space, shifting between Indian non‐work roles and westernized work roles, interpreting and projecting specific embodied identities and receiving feedback from western clients through body in a recursive loop.…”

Section: Identity Work the Body And Embodimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invisible Bodies and Disembodied Voices? Identity Work, the Body and Embodiment in Transnational Service Work

Rajan-Rankin¹

2017

This article explores the linkages between identity work, the body and embodiment in transnational call centres. Identity work, defined as the masking of national identity to imply proximity to the western client, provides an opportunity for the analyst to examine workplace embodiment in a global context. Qualitative data from an ethnographic study of two global outsourcing firms in India (2010-2012) explicated these processes. Narrative accounts suggest that call centre workers are routinely made aware of the body as a target of discipline, for instance in training; by working on their own bodies (including posture, dress, voice modulation and other forms of body regulation); by working on the bodies of others (through voicebased interactions) and by using embodied images of Americans to contextualize the service provided. In this way, the western client is visualized by the Indian call worker through corporeal imaginaries that concomitantly construct, subvert and resist the West-Rest dichotomy in service relations. Far from being disembodied, this study demonstrates that the body is central to global service work.

“…The literature convincingly demonstrates that body workers use ‘technologies’, or what they refer to as ‘distancing techniques’, not only to remain physically clean but also to de‐emphasize the bodily character of work that cannot be fixed discursively (Sullivan, ; Twigg et al , , p. 5). Examples of these techniques include the use of protective clothing such as uniforms and gloves during elimination care (Jervis, ; Sullivan, ; Wainwright et al , ); technical devices to measure respiratory capacity; and medicine for sedating bodies (Gale, ; Måseide, ; Twigg et al , ).…”

Section: ‘Managing’ the Stigma Of Dirty Body Work Through Discursive mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, body workers whose jobs involve ‘dirty work’ may use a range of gendered techniques to manage their risk of stigmatization and to secure professional honour and dignity. Body workers who more or less consciously worry about the stigma of body work may attempt to manage stigma through adopting gendered, discursive techniques to reframe their work in more positive ways (Bolton, ) and/or material ‘distancing techniques’ as a way to frame the body and transfer its polluted aspects to lower‐status workers (often women) (Twigg et al , , p. 5; Wainwright et al , ). However, insufficient attention has been paid to how these techniques are related to new policies and their potential implications for workers and the associated stigma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gender Stereotypes and the Reshaping of Stigma in Rehabilitative Eldercare

Jensen¹

2017

Rehabilitation policies are becoming increasingly popular in eldercare as a means to ensure dignity and reduce costs. This paper examines the implications of rehabilitation within Danish homecare work, a type of work that is often stigmatized due to its associations with low‐status ‘dirty’ body work in old people's homes. The paper combines two research traditions: studies of dirty work and studies of body work. It draws on observations and focus groups in Denmark to explore how the introduction of rehabilitation changes the work of care workers, and how such changes are associated with a potential reshaping of stigma. In contrast to previous research, this paper shows that although rehabilitation was partly introduced to reduce stigma of this type of work, the practice of rehabilitation paradoxically reinforces the stigma that it attempts to manage. Thus, the analysis helps to improve our understanding of the ambiguous and varying ways rehabilitative eldercare reshapes and reinforces stigma and gender stereotypes among women who do ‘dirty’ body work.